Next consider the convenience of the school lunch. Will a long line for lunch lead to only ten minutes to fuel-up? If you have more than one child, it may be inconvenient to remember which is packing and which is buying on which days. Also, different schools want lunches to be paid in different manners – exact change, cash only, pre-buy lunch tickets – which can further add to the confusion of school lunches. FINALLY THINK ABOUT THE COST While school lunches are relatively cheap with Hawai‘i public schools charging less than three dollars per lunch, healthy packed lunches can also be reasonably priced when shopping in bulk and adding a lot of fruits and vegetables. THE PERFECT LUNCH ACCESSORIES Fun lunch accessories can make bringing lunch even more exciting for your keiki. Perhaps you have a yearly back-toschool ritual of your child picking out his or her own superhero or glittery lunch bag or perhaps he or she has been hinting at a certain lunch box that makes the perfect present. For containers, bento box style is better since they reduce difficult-to-open packages. Often during lunchtime, a teacher July/August 2025 HAWAII PARENT 153
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